It was nice meeting Team Philippines who represented our country in The Amazing Race Asia 4 (TARA4) the show premiered last Sept. 23 on AXN)
Most Filipinos are cheering for The Richards – Richard Hardin and Richard Herrera. In the first leg of the race with pit stop in Malaysia, they booked a 2nd place finish. They are obviously very proud to race under the Philippines’ banner. Their chances of going all the way to victory is really high. Good luck Richards, bring glory to the country!
The other members of Team Philippines are the party girls, Lani Pillinger and Jacinta “Jessie” James. They were orginally from Australia but they decided to live and be based in the Philippines. These Aussies are one of us now and we wish them a good run as well.
We joined the Chevron team for the official media launch of The Amazing Race Asia 4 in Batangas last weekend. Here is a photo essay of the highlights of our family’s adventure:
Starting Point: Shangrila Meetup
Joshua who is a “Ka-chow” fanatic was super excited to see the SLS AMG Mercedes Benz with its upswing doors wide open. Joshua wanted to ride it but stepping on the bed of flowers is prohibited.
I wonder if Mercedes Benz has a test drive program. It would be awesome if I can bring the boys to ride this amazing car. I heard this is the model that can park itself, tama ba?
First Stop: Community Library Launch in San Pascual, Batangas
We were there for the inauguration of the San Antonio Community Library in San Antonio Elementary School in San Pascual, Batangas.
The library is open not only to the school but to the entire community around it. The books were donated by Chevron Philippines employees and Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL). FHL also trained the librarians on how to manage and operate the library.
The community library is open from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and will be staffed by San Antonio Elementary School teachers. Getting a library card is free. The card allows you to use the facilities for your reading pleasure or research. If you wish, you can also check out books and return them after 5 days.
Kudos to Chevron Philippines for this cool Corporate Social Responsibility project 🙂 They plan to open more Community Library in remote parts of the country in the future.
During the launch, we saw Luisito “Bodjie” Pascual or popularly known as Kuya Bodjie of Batibot. He is as animated as ever telling children story to San Antonio Elementary School kids.
Overnight @ Hotel Ponte Fino
Only Joshua and Raphael joined us for this adventure ( Aidan had school). It was nice for Caltex to allow us to bring our family to the event. Usually, most PR events don’t include families and most of the time, even if you pay for your own, they frown upon bringing kids.
We stayed in the premium room which is the entry level room in Hotel Ponte Fino.
Premium Room (P6,000 weekdays, P3,850 weekend single/double occupation)
Fino Suite (P8,000 weekdays, P5,900 weekend single/double occupation)
Terrace Suite (P9,500 weekdays, P5,200 weekend)
The boys love the bathtub because they think it is a mini-swimming pool.
A nice lap swimming pool is the centerpiece of the hotel.
Ponte Fino Hotel now has cute European-inspired Residences. This place reminds of the Painted Ladies in San Francisco, CA.
Hotel Ponte Fino and Residences
Gulod Labac, Batangas City
Telephone: +63 43 723-FINO
Manila Sales Office: +632 631-8310
Email Address: sales@pontefino.com.ph
Website: www.pontefino.com.ph
The Amazing Race Asia 4 Official Media Launch
The lovely Kitchie Nadal, who created the Corporate Social Responsibility theme-song for Caltex, provided two sets of live entertainent during the TARA 4 Media Launch. I’ll upload a video of her performance in YouTube.
Team Richards and Team Party Girls were introduced as Team Philippines during the TARA 4 launch!
Check out the video of their speeches during the event. Can you tell if they won the race?
During the event, there was a game among the media attendees and the winner got an all-expense paid trip to Singapore in December to witness the closing ceremonies of The Amazing Race 4. Jessie and Team Inquirer won the Singapore trip. Congratulations!
The Richards with last year’s The Amazing Race 2 runner-up – Rovi Fernandez and Mark Nelson.
The proud Team Philippines with Michelle (lady in black) — half of Team Singapore.
Final Stop: International Coastal Cleanup day @ Chevron Batangas Terminal
The entire TARA Media group participated in the International Coastal Clean-up Day by cleaning up the Chevron Batangas Terminal coastline. The terminal was a refinery before but now it was converted into the main shipping hub for Chevron.
Just a trivia, they actually saw a Butanding visited this part of Batangas Bay — a testament on how clean the surrounding is and why it should be maintained.
This coastline was actually very dirty because of the tributary rivers where people dump a lot of trash. Caltex volunteers and media personalities did their best to make a mark on this 1-day coastal clean-up.
It was my first time to participate in the International Coastal Clean-up event.
To be honest, I thought these things are overrated publicity stunt but once you get in the groove, you’ll understand the serious nature of why we really need to take an active part in cleaning and protecting our environment.
Next time, I’ll bring my boys to participate in the clean up to instill in them the values of protecting the environment.
The Amazing Race 4 media group photo! Thanks to Chevron for the nice event 🙂
So, what do you think? Will Team Philippines (The Riches or the Party Girls) win The Amazing Race Asia 4?
Live an Awesome Life,
Founder, www.OurAwesomePlanet.com
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Disclosure: The entire event is sponsored by Chevron Philippines and they are an official advertising partner of Our Awesome Planet.
P.S. I’m glad I made the right choice of partnering with them 🙂
Mark and Rovilson participated in TARA 2; Tisha and Geoff were in TARA 3.
The Filipinos are very good athletes. Sadly the government dose not prioritize our athletes. We need to change this. Manny Pacquiao can’t do it alone.
bro,
I think calling these two teams “Team Philippines”
is really stretching it. None of these 4 “Pinoys”
look like they can even speak Pilipino.
Seriously, how much Filipino blood do any of these 4 have,
and how many of them actually grew up here,
and really call our country home?
From my end, this looks like Casting Fail.
And they call this Reality TV?!?!?
I call it the opposite, sorry.
This reminds me of Asi Taulava wearing our country’s
colors during International Basketball Tournaments : (
Spanx,
I actually had the same initial impressions regarding "Team Philippines". But I don't think it is a question of Race, these guys/gals decided to live and be based in the Philippines and proudly represent our country.
I also don't agree with the people casting for TARA 4 in general but I guess it is their call.
Anton
i have a feeling both teams did not get the top prize. they don’t look like winners. the boys’ aura seems to say, “we’re dyahe.” hahaha! the girls look more outgoing and more happy– maybe they even did better than the boys? let’s see. 😀
nope. it’s mercedes’ B180 model that can park itself. it’s their compact line.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/lifestyle/09/23/10/mercedes-benz-car-offers-hands-free-parking
Thanks Maong for the correction…
I actually agree and I'm excited to see the Manila Leg of the race 🙂
Twas nice to see you there, Sir! 🙂
I think those 3 teams there were the final 3 🙂 just a hunch, and I think Richard kinda spoiled it when he said ” I guarantee” and the other team philippines quickly looked at him, just my opinion anyway, I do hope team philippines win, since in TARA 2 we came in 3, in TARA 3 we came in 2nd and TARA 4 im hoping we go all the way 🙂
one of the richards actually studied here (ateneo)
Look at the profiling of the contestants – they are either models/actors or expats/balikbayan, married to an expat or a son/daughter of an expat. This goes for all the countries and all the other seasons.
I watch it all the time, I love the Amazing Race! I especially loved the race of Rovilson and Mark and now love the camaraderie among the Richards. I most especially hated the pinay married to an ex-navy guy who shouted her way through the game. I cringed each time she screamed at her husband, hoping other nations won’t think badly of us:) BTW, i love, love the 2 malaysian guys in TARA4!
I will not judge the contestants as to how deep their patriotism is to the country they are representing, because I do not think that is not an issue. Sana lang more regular people, just like the Amazing Race in the US. You don’t have to be an expat or actor to make the show interesting.